


Soldier Boy

by CantSpeakFae



Series: The Scars Souvenir [13]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Episode Revisit + Revision, Missing Scenes, Slightly AU from here, Soldier Xander Harris, Written from Xander's P.O.V
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 11:56:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18222833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CantSpeakFae/pseuds/CantSpeakFae
Summary: You learn that the hard way. Only thing he relies on is his rifle and his aim, and even a rifle can malfunction from time to time.





	Soldier Boy

The first thing he hears is screaming.   
  
It’s coming from every direction. A chorus of mayhem sounding off to the beat of broken windows, overturned trash cans, and backfiring cars. Where is he? And why is he staring at the ground? He jerks upright, straightening up and surveying the scene. People are running in every direction like it’s Armageddon, choreographed like they’re performing in a play called “shit show” and he’s not interested in sticking around for the encore. He lifts his rifle, cradling the fully automatic M-16 in his hands. Wherever he is, he’s got the only thing he’s ever needed to count on with him. That’s a start.   
  
He shoulders the weapon and spins around, scanning for a target. He doesn’t immediately find one, so he starts to lower it again, holding it ready. What are all of these people running from? What - WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?  
  
Something short, blue, and UGLY runs by him. It’s not like anything human he’s ever seen and he might not have the vocabulary to call it by name, but he’s got the weapon to keep it away from him. He takes aim and fires, missing by a few, precious inches.   
  
“Xander!”   
  
Someone calls out to him. He’s re-aiming.   
  
“Xander!”   
  
It’s coming from directly behind him, now. He takes a breath then spins around, aiming the M-16 at her head. One wrong move… and she flails, raising her hands up in a gesture of surrender and looking… hurt?   
  
“It’s me, Willow!”   
  
Doesn’t ring a bell.   
  
“I don’t know any Willow.” He tells her, finger still over the trigger.   
  
“Xander! Quit messing around. This is no time for jokes.”  
  
She seems sincere… and she does know his name. But that doesn’t mean shit. Whatever is going on here, it’s not normal. And until he can regroup and figure some shit out, he’s not taking chances. Still… she might know something.   
  
“What the hell’s going on here?”   
  
“You don't know me?”   
  
Okay, maybe she doesn’t know anything. She’s either a really good actress or she’s just as confused as he is. Doesn’t explain everything, but he’s got bigger things to worry about than some crazy redhead shouting his name. Fuckin’ weird looking monsters everywhere, right outta a kid’s book.   
  
“Lady, I suggest you find cover.”   
  
He’s never seen anything like this and that is saying a LOT because he’s seen some shit. There was this time, back in -  
  
“No!”   
  
She jumps in front of him, trying to keep him from leaving, but he walks right past her.   
  
No. Wait. He walked right /through/ her.  
  
“Oh!” She gasped.  
  
Xander whirled around, his rifle up and ready before he’s even really thought about wanting to aim it at her, and he stares with wide eyes and steady hands when she turns to look at him.   
  
“What are you?” He snarls, suddenly realizing that if he can just walk through her, there’s a chance that there’s nothing his rifle can do to her that’ll be useful. Fuck.   
  
“Xander, listen to me.” She says, her voice desperate now. “I'm on your side, I swear! Something crazy is happening. I was dressed as a ghost for Halloween, a-and now I am a ghost. And you were supposed to be a soldier, and now I, I-I guess you're a real soldier.”  
  
Of all the crazy, mixed up, and fucking delusional things he’s ever been told...  
  
Xander shoots her an incredulous look, his upper lip curling back over his teeth in disgust. “You expect me to believe that?”  
  
Another one of those monster things appears across the street, growling and prowling like an animal. Ah, something he _can_  shoot. He points his rifle at it and it starts to run. So, they know what fear is. Good, cause he’s about to give them a whole lot of it, with a heaping side dish of - seriously? Red jumps in front of him, blocking his view even if he’s pretty sure she can’t block his bullets.  
  
“No! No guns! That's still a little kid in there!”  
  
“Step out of the way!”  
  
Willow stands tall, her eyes flashing. “No guns! That's an order!”  
  
He lowers the rifle. That’s an “order”? Who does this civilian think she is? She better whip out some credentials or give him a good reason to listen to her, because he’s running out of patience.  
  
“We just need to find…” She says, looking around. Scanning the area and then lights up when she sees whatever she’s looking for. “Buffy!”  
  
He opens his mouth to ask her what a “Buffy” is and how it’s gonna help when the gates of hell seem to have opened and are spewing a bunch of freaks at them. But she’s already running and he swears under his breath, jogging to keep up with her and following her gaze. Buffy’s a… girl. A girl in a pretty pink dress, who’s wandering around like she’s never seen the outside of a tower before.   
  
“Buffy! Are you okay?”   
  
Xander almost chimes in, but there’s another roar and he whirls around. Monster’s back with a friend, and they look pissed. Now can he shoot something?! He shoulders his gun, again, and takes aim.   
  
“This could be a situation.” He tells them, stepping so that he’s shielding them. Whatever drugs the redhead is on and whatever century Princess just walked here from, they’re civilians and that’s what matters.  
  
“Buffy, what do we do?” Red says, turning to the brunette.  
  
The girl drops to the ground in a dead faint and Xander squeezes his eyes shut, for a second, exhaling sharply in annoyance. Super.  
  
Alright. Screw this.   
  
He squeezes the trigger, firing off a couple dozen rounds at the approaching monsters, aiming low and aiming past them, since Red keeps making huffy sounds even as she kneels down beside the Princess, who’s slumped against a tree. The beasties turn and run and Xander lowers his weapon, turning his attention to the girls.   
  
“Buffy, are you alright?”  
  
“What?” The girl - Buffy, Red keeps calling her - looks up with confusion in her eyes.   
  
“Are you hurt?” Xander says, evaluating the situation. He can probably throw her over his shoulder if needed since Red can’t seem to touch anything, but that’d leave them defenseless for however long it took to find cover. They’d need to find somewhere fast.  
  
“Buffy, are you hurt?” Red asks, again.   
  
The brunette sits up, her lips pursed together in a frown of confusion. “Buffy?”   
  
Red looks up at him, her expression distraught. “She’s not Buffy.”   
  
What, Princess has a nearly identical twin running around somewhere? Is this a rescue mission now? He scowls. “Who’s Buffy?”   
  
“Oh, this is fun,” Red mutters, turning her attention back to Princess. “What year is this?”  
  
Xander takes Princess’s hand and helps her up. Checking for a concussion, that’s good. But not out in the open, where anything can swoop in on them.  
  
“1775, I believe.” She says, confused and starting to hyperventilate. “I-I don’t understand. Who are you?”  
  
“We’re friends.”   
  
Easy, Red. Xander shoots her a glance. He doesn’t keep the company of ‘friends’. Too easy to lose people. You learn that the hard way. Only thing he relies on is his rifle and his aim, and even a rifle can malfunction from time to time.   
  
“F-friends of whom? Y-your dress... Everything is strange! How did I come to be here?”   
  
Great. An amnesiac who, by the look of her dress, was working a renaissance fair. This is just super. Xander keeps glancing around. People are still running, but most of them seem to just be people. He should get these two to safety and then start gathering up more of the stragglers. As many as he can, while he can. But Red is still talking.   
  
“Breathe, okay, breathe. You're gonna faint again.” Red said, looking back at him. “How are we supposed to get through this without the Slayer?”  
  
Does anything this girl says have any meaning to it? “What's a Slayer?”  
  
Right on cue, another one of those freaky mutant things comes around the tree that Princess had been lying against and roars, fangs bared, and claws ready to attack. The girl screams, backing away, and Xander leaps forward. No shooting? Fine. He whacks the thing across the face with the butt of his rifle, as hard as he can, knocking it down and out. He whirls around, then, facing the girls. No more fucking talking.   
  
“I suggest we get inside before we come across anything -”   
  
Princess jumps on him, screaming. “A DEMON, A DEMON! A DEMON!”  
  
Xander turns his body in the direction, expecting something hairy and scary, just like his Great Aunt Rita’s feet, but instead, it’s a…   
  
“That's not a demon. It's a car.” Red says, exasperated.  
  
Princess clings a little harder to him, her chin digging into his shoulder.  
  
“What does it want?” She sniffs.   
  
Xander stares at Red. Hard. “Is this woman insane?”   
  
“She's never seen a car.”  
  
“She's NEVER seen a car?”  
  
“She's from the past.”  
  
“And you're a ghost,” Xander says, just to clarify.  
  
“Yes! Now let's get inside.”   
  
That’d been his idea the whole time, but now he’s starting to question if his sanity and his SELF can survive another five minutes with these two, much less an undetermined amount of time. But, fuck, he can’t just leave them out here. He takes a deep, steadying breath. Get your head together, Harris. You’ve faced bigger issues.   
  
“I just want you to know that I'm taking a lot on faith here.” He tells her, once he’s stopped deliberating. “Where do we go?”   
  
Red thinks for a minute. “Where’s the closest… we can go to a friend’s!”   
  
Yeah, but a friend of WHO?  
  


* * *

  
Xander pushes open the door, gaze shifting and gun at the ready to take down anything hostile. Nothing moves. Nothing jumps. He doesn’t see so much as a shadow twitch, so he rises to his feet and nods.   
  
“All clear!”   
  
Red walks in after him, calling out. “Hello? Mrs. Summers?”   
  
There’s no response. The place seems empty. Good, he wasn’t sure he could handle anyone else.   
  
“Good, she’s gone,” Red says, echoing his unspoken feelings.   
  
Xander ushers Princess further inside and closes the door.   
  
“Where are we?” Princess asks.   
  
“Your place. Now we just need to…”  
  
BANG. BANG. BANG. Something slams against the front door. No downtime, then. Xander marches forward, gun at the ready.   
  
“Don’t open it!” Red shouts after him.  
  
“Could be a civilian.”   
  
“Or a mini demon!”   
  
She’s got a point. But Xander isn’t taking that on faith. He needs to see and know for sure. Meanwhile, behind him, Princess is making herself comfortable. Xander ignores their conversation, though he gets the sense that she’s upset about something. Someone’s corset is laced too tightly and cutting off all the oxygen to their brain… he looks through the small window on the door and then jumps back just as a fist comes at him. Something - someone - punches through the glass and reaches for him. It pulls its hand back as Xander raises his M-16.   
  
“Not a civilian!”   
  
Super helpful, Red.  
  
“Affirmative!” Xander agrees, taking aim through the broken window.   
  
“Hey, what did we say?!”   
  
Xander ignores that, firing off a round and then rolling away from the door when he’s finished it off, looking back at Red.  
  
“Big noise scare monster, remember?”  
  
She nods, weakly. “Got it.”  
  
Outside, a woman screams. Xander rushes back to the door and looks out again. There is a civilian, dressed in a leotard, running like hell from a monster.   
  
“Damn it!” He snarls, yanking open the door and running outside.   
  
“Somebody help me!” Catwoman shrieks, looking back and then screaming harder. She turns back around, but not fast enough, and collides into Xander.  
  
“Xander! Help me!”   
  
How does everyone know his - never mind.   
  
“Come inside!”   
  
He takes her by the elbow and leads her to the house, quickly pulling her through the door.  
  
“Cordelia!” Red says, and Xander hopes she actually knows this one, this time.  
  
“Wait a... What's going on?”   
  
Of course.  
  
“Okay.” Red says, “Your name is Cordelia, you’re not a cat, you’re in high school, and we’re your friends. Well, sort of.”   
  
“That’s nice, Willow. And you went mental when?”   
  
Red blinked, shocked. “You know us?”   
  
“Yeah. Lucky me. What's with the name game?”  
  
“A lot's going on,” Red says. She has a real gift for understatement.   
  
“No kidding. I was just attacked by Jo-Jo, the Dog-Faced Boy. Look at my costume!” Catwoman said, showing a torn sleeve. “Do you really think that Partytown's gonna give me my deposit back? Not on the likely.”  
  
Xander shrugs out of his over-shirt and puts it on her shoulders.   
  
“Here.” He says, turning back to the window.   
  
“Thanks,” Catwoman says, shooting him a surprised glance.   
  
“Okay. You guys stay here while I get some help. If something tries to get in, just fight it off.” Red orders and Xander has to try not to sigh. Not only did she put herself in charge, but she keeps giving flip-flopping orders. Don’t shoot the bad guys. Okay, now shoot the bad guys. Jesus, lady.  
  
“Well, i-it’s not our place to fight. Uh, surely some men will protect us?” Princess asks.  
  
Xander rolls his eyes so hard they nearly pop out of their sockets.  
  
“What's that riff?”  
  
“I-it's like amnesia, okay? They don't know who they are. Just sit tight.”   
  
Catwoman turns to him, “Who died and made her the boss?”   
  
Red walks through the wall behind Cordelia. Buffy stares in wide-eyed amazement and Xander just shrugs.   
  
“I guess she did.”   
  
Well, he’s not just fucking sitting here, waiting for something else to come into the house. He marches to the dining room and sweeps all of the stuff off of the table and onto the floor, grabbing the kitchen table and lifting it up, carrying it from the dining room to the front entrance, pushing it against the main, big window. He starts back to the kitchen and grabs a chair, next, glancing at Catwoman as he walks by.   
  
“You!” He says, gesturing with a nod of his head. “ Check upstairs. Make sure everything's locked up.”  
  
He places the chair up to the table, keeping it in place. Not the greatest protection between them and the outside, but it should stall anything that tries to get through, at least long for them to get away. Catwoman looks annoyed, but heads upstairs.  
  
“Surely there's somewhere we can go. A safe haven?” Princess asks, sweeping over to him and looking at him with wide, puppy-dog eyes. Xander sighs.   
  
“Lady said stay put.”   
  
“You would take orders from a woman? A-are you feeble in some way?”  
  
Alright, that’s it. Princess is getting on his last fucking nerve. He turns to her, his eyes narrowed.   
  
“Ma’am, in the Army we have a saying: sit down and shut the…” He trails off, spying something on the floor. “Whoa!”   
  
He leans down and picks the picture up, off of the floor, scanning it. It’s him. And Princess. And Red. But, they all look different. Princess is blonde, Red is covered up, and he looks… goofy. A shudder ripples through him, uncertainty taking hold.   
  
“She must be right.” He says, quietly. “We must have some kind of amnesia.”   
  
He doesn’t get it, though. Because he does remember. He remembers his entire life. Okay, well, not his childhood. Or his teenage years. Or his education. But he remembers the army. Training, rising in ranks. Rising from Private, to Private: second class, to Private: First class, training to be a designated marksman. He remembers the workouts, the fighting, the early mornings, the tactical knowledge. How can he have amnesia is he knows all of these things?  
  
But how can he deny the picture?   
  
“I don’t know what that is, but I’m certain I don’t have it. I bathe quite often!” Princess says, calling him back to reality.   
  
“How do you explain this?” Xander asks, shoving the picture toward her.  
  
“I don't! I was brought up a proper lady. I-I wasn't meant to understand things. I'm just meant to look pretty, and then someone nice will marry me. Possibly a Baron.”  
  
Someone’s got their head stuck up the ass of La-la-land. “This ain’t no tea party, Princess. Sooner or later, you’re gonna have to fight!”  
  
“Fight these low creatures?” Princess asks, her tone snotty. “I’d sooner die.”   
  
She crosses her arms and Xander has the sudden desire to go deal with the monsters, instead. At least that’d be some stress relief.   
  
“Then you’ll die.” He tells her, instead, his voice sharp. Trying to smack some sense into her.   
  
Footsteps sound out from the kitchen and another civilian appears, stepping up behind them and greeting them with relief.   
  
“Oh, good! You guys are alright! It’s total chaos out there.”   
  
They both look at him.  
  
“Who are you?” Xander and Princess ask at the same time, and the same confusion that had been in Red and Catwoman’s faces light up the new guy’s.   
  
“Okay, somebody wanna fill me in?”   
  
Xander cradles his gun, again. “Do you live here?”   
  
“No, and you know that. Buffy,” He says, looking to Princess, who jumps. “I’m lost here. You… what’s up with your hair?”  
  
Catwoman reappears, then, gesturing vaguely. “They don’t know who they are, everyone’s turned into a monster, it’s a whole big thing.”   
  
She smiles then and bats her eyes.  
  
“How are you?”   
  
Xander almost wretches at the lovey-dovey bullshit that’s happening in the middle of a full-scale apocalypse, but before he can point that out, the lights go out. Princess jumps on Catwoman, who looks at her with aggravation.   
  
“Do you mind?”   
  
Princess lets go and Xander shakes his head. Right. Everyone where is useless. Time to take charge.   
  
He turns to the new guy. He doesn’t look monsterish, so he’s the best bet. “You take the princess and secure the kitchen. Catwoman, you're with me.”  
  
He starts back toward the door, shouldering his rifle. Something’s coming for them, and he’s gonna be ready for it. Just as long as everyone plays their fucking parts.  
  


* * *

  
“You LOST the Princess?”   
  
It’s not even fifteen minutes later and Xander is considering hitting _this_  guy in the head with the butt of his rifle.   
  
“I didn’t lose her! She ran away!” The guy - Angel, he called himself - snarled back at him, aggravated. Without any fucking cause, really, cause Xander isn’t the one who lost an entire and extremely helpless person. Xander makes an aggravated sound in the back of his throat and starts out the back door. Angel and Catwoman are right behind him and he looks around.   
  
“Are you sure she came this way?”   
  
“No,” Angel says. Xander almost snaps at him, but he sounds more worried than deliberately belligerent.   
  
“She'll be okay,” Catwoman assures them, but Angle shakes his head.  
  
“Buffy would be okay. Whoever she is now, she's helpless. C'mon!”  
  


* * *

  
They wander around for what feels like hours before they finally find her. It’s a dark alley and Xander can hear whimpering. He looks down the alley and sees a familiar pink gown… and an unfamiliar body, pressing against her, shoving her back into a crate and brushing her hair back away from her face as he leans in to kiss her.   
  
Fucking pirates.   
  
Xander starts running, taking a flying leap and tackling him down, off of the Princess and onto the ground. He sits up, and pulls the pirate up, too, slamming him into a metal warehouse door and punching him in the face and then in the gut. The pirate shoves him back and into the opposite wall, returning the gut punch, but Xander grabs his arm and pulls it behind his back, forcing him to bend over, and knees him in the stomach right as Catwoman and Angel finally catch up.  
  
“Buffy! Are you okay?” Catwoman asks, pulling Princess outta the way.  
  
Princess sees Angel, yelps and cowers behind a box. Okay, what the hell did he do to her?  
  
“What's your deal? Take a pill!”  
  
Xander doesn’t have time to keep focusing on them. Pirate comes at him with a real sword and Xander has to side-step him and fast, grabbing him by the wrist and twisting his arm around, again, making him drop the weapons. He lifts him back up and punches him, hard, sending him sprawling back into a pile of trash. He gets back up and Xander sighs. Why don’t they ever just stay down? And Princess and Catwoman are arguing about something behind him. Great time to have a squabble.   
  
Larry runs at him and Xander punches him again. Once more, with feeling. He falls back into the trash and a pile of boxes fall onto him, knocking him out and keeping him down. Good. His knuckles are sore, now.  
  
Angel finally comes over - real fuckin’ helpful, that guy - and Xander turns to him.  
  
“It's strange, but beating up that pirate gave me a weird sense of closure.” He says, with a shrug.  
  
Red appears, suddenly, running down the alley from the other end.  
  
“Guys!”  
  
“Willow!”  
  
Huh. So, Angel knows Red. Well, that makes Xander feel a little better. But, not the best, cause he can see what Red was running from, now.  
  
“Guys, you gotta get inside.”   
  
Someone tall, blonde, and cheek-boned is sweeping down the alley with a whole gang of little monsters. Shit.  
  
“We need a triage!” Xander barks.  
  
Angel points in the direction away from the pack of monsters. “This way! Find an open warehouse.”  
  
Xander turns and picks up his rifle. “Ladies, we're on the move!”  
  
He quickly heads down the alley. Catwoman and Red follow him. While Angel grabs Princess and lifts her up, carrying her. Behind them, hell marches on their heels.  
  


* * *

  
Angel somehow got past the rest of them, moving too fast and barely panting, like he doesn’t even need oxygen. But he finds an open warehouse and Xander decides to push aside his suspicious feelings about him. Xander shoves the door aside, since Angel is still carrying Buffy, and ushers them all in.   
  
“Check in there are other ways in!” Xander barks, at everyone with a working brain.   
  
He slides the door closed again as Angel sets Princess back down on her feet next to Catwoman.  
  
“Just stay here,” Angel tells her, going to seal the other entrances.  
  
The monsters arrive and start pounding on the door from outside. Xander picks up a large grate and sets it in front of the door on top of some barrels he's already moved into place. Then he picks up another grate and sets it behind the first one as the monsters get the door open. They pound against it as he tries to hold it in place. But he’s not gonna be able to keep it there for long. There’s a lot of them and only one of him and no amount of training is going to fix those odds in his favour. He shoots a desperate look at the civilians, who are still just STANDING there. Don’t they have any survival instincts?   
  
“GO!” He shouts.  
  
They all start running again, and Xander only follows when he can no longer hold the grating against the monsters. He pushes off of them and starts running, hearing the grates clatter to the floor as the beasties push through. But he doesn’t look back.   
  
It’s the wrong choice. They’re on them in a flash and surrounded. Two monsters grab his arms and hold him in place while more grab onto Angel and crowd in on Red and Catwoman.   
  
Blondie - the leader of the mass attack - pushes back, slinking over to Princess like a cat on the prowl for a mouse. He slowly closes in on Princess as she backs away, trembling.  
  
“Look at you.” He says, his voice practically a purr. “Shaking. Terrified. Alone. Lost little lamb.”  
  
Princess hits a crate and can't go any further. Peroxide slaps her across the face with the back of his hand. The sound echoes and Xander struggles harder. That motherfucker, attacking someone who can’t fight back. He’s going to shove his boot so far up Peroxide’s -  
  
“I love it.” He growls at Princess.  
  
Angel thrashes and struggles with the two monsters holding him.   
  
“Buffy!”   
  
Peroxide puts his left hand around her throat and bends her backward onto the crate. He strokes her forehead with his right hand. Xander struggles with his two captors. He can’t watch this. He can’t let it happen. Spike grabs Buffy's hair and closes in for a bite.  
  
He can’t… gah! With a sudden burst of strength and what he thinks is a _growl_  ripping through him, Xander gets free of the monsters and punches one in the face, the other in the gut, and then shoves the second monster into the first. Peroxide is closing in on Princess and Xander turns his attention onto him.   
  
“Now that guy you CAN shoot!” Red tells him.  
  
Fuckin’ finally.  
  
Xander grabs his M-16… and shoulders a toy rifle.   
  
“What the…”   
  
The crying starts. Xander looks around. He’s surrounded by little kids and student escorts and they’re all bursting into tears.   
  
“I'm scared! I want my mommy!”  
  
Spike looks back at them and straightens up, blinking rapidly at this turn of events. And Xander could almost scream with laughter as he pulls on Buffy’s hair, but only to find that he has just a wig in his hands. Buffy sits up and smiles at him.  
  
“Hi, honey. I’m home.”   
  


* * *

  
It’s over fast.  
  
The second that Spike makes his retreat, Xander makes his way over to her. He’s still dazed, a little confused, and his real memories are tangling with his army ones, but he smiles wearily.   
  
“Hey, Buff. Welcome back.”   
  
Buffy grins widely. “Yeah! You, too.”   
  
Cordelia stepped forward. “You guys remember what happened?”   
  
Xander nods. “It was way creepy. It was like I was there, but I couldn’t get out.”   
  
“Yeah, I know the feeling. This outfit's totally skintight.”  
  
Cordelia looks up at Angel as he comes over to Buffy. And Xander averts his eyes from the soppy reunion, only looking back up again at Cordelia’s irritated sound when Angel starts to lead Buffy away.  
  
“Hello?! It felt like I was talking, my lips were moving and…”  
  
Xander shakes his head. “Give it up, Cordy. You’re never gonna get between those two. Believe me, I know.”   
  


* * *

 

All’s well that ends well, in Sunnydale. 

Sure, there’s mass casualties and damage. The people that got eaten by kids-turned-to-monsters were still eaten. Property damage everywhere and Xander already hears the police calling it “Halloween Hi-jinks” so another coverup is already in progress as he’s walking home in a green tank top and clutching a toy rifle.   
  
Some things never change. He’s not one of those things. He’s got military training and lingo rattling around in his head, and it feels weird, having knowledge that’s been implanted. He never learned any of it, but he knows it’s true and as real as the M-16 was.   
  
But what does that mean for him? Anything at all? He’s not the soldier, anymore. The confidence is gone, the swearing is mostly gone, and the weapon is definitely gone. But he still has part of it inside of him, settling down next to the primal spirit that sank its claws into him and was never fully removed.   
  
If this stuff keeps happening, he’s not going to have any more room in his head. A possessed villain, possessed hero…always taken away and always left with nothing but a feelin’ of having once been better than this.  
  
He throws his plastic gun into the street.   
  
 _When’s he ever gonna need to know how to handle a rocket launcher, anyway?_


End file.
